James Delles

"I don't like leetcode style interviews!" See I wasn't making it up! Kurtis Nusbaum tells us more about why engineers don't like leetcode and the types of interviews that lead to a more enjoyable and effective interviewing experience.

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“There’s no jobs for Jr Software Engineers out there!” NOT TRUE…But there are some major issues in today’s hiring market. 1. MISALIGNED FOUNDATIONAL EXPERIENCE: The majority of aspiring SEs are either: Recent CS grads (less hands-on exp); OR, Bootcamp grads (less theory). Meanwhile...Most enterprise companies who hire a ton of SEs are looking for CS grads that ALSO have hands-on experience already. 2. MISALIGNED TECH STACKS: The majority of aspiring SEs are only experienced in NodeJS and/or Python. Meanwhile…Most of the companies who hire a ton of SEs are using Java or C# backends. Companies using NodeJS or Python backends are often smaller and can't hire as many SEs. That’s why our Enterprise Accelerator is making a difference. We identify diverse CS grads who are hungry, and we teach them the hands-on Java skills that companies are using in the real world over 3 months. Best of both worlds 😎 If you're interested in seeing some of this kind of talent--send me a DM and we'll get you connected. Want to join our next Enterprise Accelerator cohort? Stay tuned for the next webinar in early August.

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It’s official: landing a software engineering job is tougher now than it was just a few years ago. With many startups shutting down and big companies laying off employees, candidates with 0-5 years of experience are feeling the pinch. What can you do? Shift your storytelling from tools and languages to the impact you've made. Highlight who your users were, how you improved their lives, and any recognition you received. Remember, outcomes matter more than just the technologies you used!

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Software Engineering Trends Many people think AI will replace software engineering or that the demand for software engineers has sharply declined. I don’t believe either of these assumptions are true. I do belive the market has become more competitive. To land a software engineering role at a top tech company like those in the FANG group, I believe it's still essential to have a 4-year computer science degree from a reputable university. Those who take the coding bootcamp or self-taught route are generally better positioned for roles at smaller software companies. I recently watched a YouTube video by Conner Ardman that provided an insightful overview of the current state of the software engineering job market and its future trends. You can watch it here: [https://lnkd.in/eTGZ8H25) #SoftwareEngineering #TechJobs #CareerAdvice #FANG #ComputerScience #CodingBootcamp #SoftwareDevelopment #TechIndustry #JobMarket #EngineeringCareers #FutureOfWork #Programming #TechTrends #SoftwareEngineer

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NEW Software Developers and NEW Software Engineer Job Seekers!! Varied JOBS---> JOBS---> JOBS---> JOBS---> Come take a look at ALL of these Open Jobs to Apply too ASAP before gone!! **Who wants to work at Notion? Coinbase? Datadog? or Oracle?** ✏ 💙 ✏ 💙 ✏ 💙 ✏ 💙 ✏ ✏ Ben and I are not the recruiters for these openings------> just part of a group of trying to get MANY people back to work and passing leads out in various places for viewing and applying!! ✏ Please do not send Ben or I your resume as we are not going to be reviewing them and so it will be more of value for you to just apply directly to the positions below. 👇 ✏ If there is a match to any of the jobs you have applied too according to the company, then the recruiter who owns the req will reach out to you to get you setup for the beginnings of interviews. 👉 Please make sure to connect with me here Tamara Swearingen on LinkedIn and then --->follow me by hitting the notification bell 🔔 to make sure you do not miss any of my postings that are either educational or motivational content and then of course besides posting Talent jobs like these in this posting, I will be posting jobs that fall under Sales, Engineering, Finance, Customer Success etc. 👈 ❤️ 💙 Remember, if you see a job or two that could fit someone you know who is out of work right now, then show some KINDNESS and tag their name below in the comment section and they will get alerted and can apply to the job(s) 💙 ❤️ ✏ 💙 ✏ 💙 ✏ 💙 ✏ 💙 ✏

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If you're not a software engineer, keep scrolling. I've been an engineer my entire career and have led engineers for 9+ years. I love this profession. But there's one mistake I see mid-level engineers make too often: Not being clear about the value they're providing. There are 4 areas in which engineers provide value: Technology, Product, Process, and People. But no one gets to Product, Process, or People without mastering Technology. And I'm here to tell you there is a lot of value in the technical understanding. Don't try to scale the ranks before you build depth there. We’re engineers. No matter your title, you need to be comfortable building software. Ideally, you should love it. When you’re progressing through your career, it’s exciting to get tapped on the shoulder to lead a product, overhaul a DevOps process, or manage people. And when you get these opportunities, take them. But make sure you stay close to the engineering part of the process. Because as soon as your coding capabilities start to dwindle, you lose value. That sword needs to stay sharp. A principal engineer who is either a) not interested in being hands-on or b) no longer capable of being hands-on, can’t succeed in leading a team. Today I’m a CTO. But if my team needs me to write code, I’m there in a heartbeat. So my advice to younger engineers is: Stay close to the tech. It makes you better at Product, Process, and People. If you’re an engineer reading this, know that I appreciate you. This isn’t an easy job, and I respect you for doing it. P.S. In the spirit of this post, here's a photo of me with much longer hair from *slightly* earlier in my career.

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Top 3 things I’m hearing software engineers want… (aside from money & flexibility) 🎯𝐎𝐰𝐧𝐞𝐫𝐬𝐡𝐢𝐩 & 𝐈𝐦𝐩𝐚𝐜𝐭 🎯𝐆𝐫𝐨𝐰𝐭𝐡 𝐎𝐩𝐩𝐨𝐫𝐭𝐮𝐧𝐢𝐭𝐢𝐞𝐬  🎯𝐂𝐨𝐦𝐩𝐥𝐞𝐱 𝐓𝐞𝐜𝐡 𝐂𝐡𝐚𝐥𝐥𝐞𝐧𝐠𝐞𝐬 If you’re hiring for software folks… A good place to start is highlighting these in job specs. Then as part of your interview process. And once they’re in the door. Put it into practice and your retention will improve. Otherwise I might be speaking to them again 😊 Anything I've missed? #softwareengineer #retention #talentacquisition 

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Junior Software Engineers—are you ready for the new way that companies are looking to hire in 2025? This weeks videos is all about how coding hiring will evolve as AI continues to improve.

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The coolest benefit of being a SWE is Flexibility Most days, you are not tied to a 9-5 - Don’t want to work now ? Take rest and do it later - You plan your day, week and half and dictate on your own terms - You can literally work from anywhere where there is internet Very few professions in the world allow this level of flexibility. #softwareengineering

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Just opened a Staff Backend Engineer role with GameChanger! This is a pretty specific team, so please read the job details prior to applying. Job Title: Staff Backend Engineer, Revenue Growth Job Description: https://lnkd.in/gakPtyGw Location: Remote within the US* (Must have current authorization) The Position: GameChanger's Revenue Growth Team is responsible for increasing subscription rates through A/B testing, building new subscription purchase flows, and iterating quickly to determine what features are most valuable to users of GameChanger. The Growth Team is responsible for the entire experimentation platform as well as subscriptions, pricing, and packaging. As a Staff Backend Software Engineer, you’ll be responsible for setting the long term technical direction for our subscription and pricing services. You’ll also make architectural decisions within our backend in order to support our web, iOS, and Android clients. Needs for this role (💡 ie what we want to directly see on your resume!): Our backend APIs are built with TypeScript, Node.js, Redis, and PostgreSQL and run in AWS. 💻 7+ years in a software development role. ⌨ 5+ years experience with Node.js 🖲 Strong experience with A/B testing. <-- this is strongly needed as this is not a feature-based team. We'll want to see that demonstrated in your experience 🖱 Experience with TypeScript is strongly preferred. 🗣 Strong leadership and mentorship experience. 💾 Experience leading architectural decisions and API design. Please see the full job description for role criteria and expectations. What joining GameChanger offers you: 👍 Compensation $210,000 - $250,000 (including equity, bonus, etc) 👍 Unlimited PTO 👍 Full benefits including medical, dental, 401K matching and more! 👍 Remote work within the US or come work out of our Manhattan office *DICK’S Sporting Goods has company-wide practices to monitor and protect the company from significant compliance and monetary implications as it pertains to employer state tax liabilities. Due to said guidelines put in place, we are unable to hire in AK, DE, HI, IA, LA, MS, MT, OK, and SC. 🚨 Rather than messaging me inquiring about the role, please apply directly to the link and the hiring team will review. If there's a strong fit, someone will reach out to set up a call to speak further. We cannot consider candidates without an application. Due to volume of inquiries, I will be prioritizing direct applicants vs general DM's. No C2C or agency/bench sales inquiries please. This is not a contract position and not available outside the US or for those without authorization. Interested in this role? Please apply directly. Know someone who may be a good fit? Share this post with them: https://lnkd.in/gakPtyGw #staffengineer #engineeringroles #techjobs #remotejobs

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SWE Industry: Never manipulate strings in Prod if it can be avoided, and if seen in a PR by a staff/principal engineer would immediately be rejected Job Market: Manipulate these strings in weird ways on this assessment so you can get this job... Wild, if you are interviewing software engineers, give them real world problems to solve, not some arbitrary random string manipulation that we would never do in production. You're likely missing out on a lot of talented people.

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I had a former coworker reach out to me last week and ask for some career advice, where I think software engineering is going and how to position in this market. I’ll have more specific advice for them directly when I get my thoughts together, but I figured I’d post a series on the topic this week as I’m brainstorming. Since I wasn’t really targeting jobs that would be a career step up during my recent search, I hadn’t thought too much about the standard engineering career path. It was obvious that the job market for devs was the worst I’ve ever seen. Even when I was content at my credit union job for almost 10 years, at some point every year I would send out resumes and take a few interviews to keep a pulse on the job market. I never saw it even close to what it was from March through June this year. When the job market favors employers, managers default to justifiable actions. Hiring from top schools. Hiring from top tech companies, leaning on the due diligence they assume the other company has already done. Quantifiable measures like LeetCode. Referrals. Even though the market seems to have loosened up considerably since the Fed rate cut, long term I foresee increased competition for engineering jobs. In the last 30 years, technology adoption has been a big differentiator, and accordingly, companies have been willing to spend big on software engineering to gain competitive advantage. One famous example is a “Friends & Family” plan for long distance calls when AT&T and MCI were fighting over market share. Steve Jobs described it as custom billing software, a huge differentiator that other companies couldn't replicate because they couldn't get the software built. Competitive advantage based on tech and software engineering will likely fade as technologies like Gen AI mature. Companies, big and small, will be much more critical about the tech projects they undertake, what the value prop is, and actually run the expected numbers before starting. People point to the RIF at Twitter and while it still feels to me like X is on a steady downslope of quality, the site is still generally functional despite the lower headcount. Engineering departments at many companies are still bloated. The startup frenzy appears to be slowing to a crawl. I wouldn’t be surprised if legit enterprise-style software engineering positions peak in the next couple of years in the US. It’s difficult to get accurate data due to the fake job listings and payroll trickery companies use. The Fed slashing rates could alter the timeline significantly, but the bond market doesn’t seem to believe that the Fed can keep lowering. Fewer total positions would mean more competition for those positions. Engineering is not dying, but engineers are going to need to avoid being in the lowest 10% in skill and productivity, and those with high salaries are going to need to be able to prove their value through the ROI of the projects they deliver.

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How do Software Engineers get promoted? Technical ability + soft skills +strategic moves Here's how to stand out 🤝 Master your craft 🔊 Dive deep into your technical skills. Always be learning, whether it's new programming languages, frameworks, or tools. Your commitment to excellence sets you apart. Solve the right problems 🔊 Look for opportunities to solve problems that align with your team's goals and your company's mission. It's not just about fixing bugs; it's about identifying and solving high-impact problems. Communicate with impact 🔊 Whether it's through code comments, documentation, or presentations, your ability to clearly communicate complex ideas is crucial. Remember, your code isn't just for machines; it's for people too. Take initiative 🔊 Don't wait for opportunities to come to you. Propose new projects, improvements, or innovations that can drive value for your team and company. Show that you're thinking ahead. Seek feedback 🔊 Regular feedback is your growth catalyst. Embrace constructive criticism and use it to refine your skills and approach. Remember, feedback is a gift that helps you grow. Network internally 🔊 Build relationships outside your immediate team. Understand the broader business context and how your work fits into it. These connections can provide valuable insights and opportunities. Demonstrate leadership 🔊 Leadership isn't just for managers. Mentor juniors, lead by example, and contribute to a positive, inclusive team culture. Show that you're someone others can look up to. Align your goals with your manager's 🔊 Understand your manager's priorities and how you can contribute. Regular check-ins to align your goals can pave a clear path to your promotion. We are djr 🔵 ⚪

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In between hunting for JR SWE roles I've been grinding the NeetCode Blind 75. Here are a few problems from the the last week. 1. Stacks: Valid Parenthesis: https://lnkd.in/epBvBiJm 2. Trees: Invert Binary Tree: https://lnkd.in/ehxynE2J 3. Linked Lists: Reverse Linked List: https://lnkd.in/euEfNhUp 4. Bit Manipulation: Number of 1 Bits: https://lnkd.in/eK53Y_Fe 5. Sliding Window: Best Time to Buy Stock: https://lnkd.in/e4sNu8D3 ⚡ ⚡ ⚡ My resume is good, my internships are good, my projects are good. The only thing left that will bite me in the ass are DSA questions during technical interviews. NeetCode has compiled 75 of the most popular types of questions that you might see in interviews. I'm playing the statistics and assuming that 80% of the questions I will see will be Arrays or Two Pointers. I'm not going crazy as I don't care about big tech. So this is what I'm doing. Check NeetCode for yourself here --> https://lnkd.in/eyuHH354 Picture is me in my office. 😆 #software #halifax #softwaredeveloper #blockchain

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Software Engineering Joys: One of my favorite things as I’ve grown in my career is the ability to jump between programming languages as I find them suitable for the current task. At my old gig, I would often go back and forth between Python, Go, and SQL. It was fun because they felt different. We used Python for a lot of our production code, and I used Go for personal tools. I loved the power and simplicity of Go, and I like hacking data pipelines in Python. I also love its ability to prototype. Currently, I’ve spent the majority of my time over the last two days in Python and Bash, and I find it so cool how quickly I’m able to iterate and script in these languages. Having spent two days in these languages, I miss C++! I miss the power and expressiveness of it. I love the fact that adding debugging symbols can make the program too slow to keep up with data. I’m amazed at how quickly data can move through the GPU. It’s an awesome language with access to so much! Each of these languages has taught me something different, and I find the variety and pace of each refreshing when I haven’t worked with them in awhile. If you are still learning your first language, that’s great! Keep it up! If you are considering learning a second language, do it. That was the one that felt like it unlocked the door for me. After I learned two I knew I could work with any. Keep at it, and be thankful people have dedicated so much time to making it enjoyable for us to solve (create?) problems on computers. If you like my content, feel free to follow or connect! #softwareengineering #languages

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THE WEIRDEST HYBRID WORK SETUP EVER? I found out that Two Sigma has a "five days per month hybrid" in NYC. Do you know any other companies that do this? If so, let me know - I'm officially considering flying in once per month for high comp SWE opportunities! NYC is a particularly short flight, but I'm open to flying anywhere in the continental US once per month. So if you hear of something in the bay, Austin, Chicago, or Miami, go ahead and send it over! #programming #career #tech #softwareengineer #jobsearch #hybrid #remotework

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College didn’t prepare you to be a SWE. You learned set theory. Not the basics of code review. What makes a function logarithmic. Not what to do on-call when it blows up. How to build a compiler alone. Not how to solve pain points together. Education on the job is different. Less textbooks. More mentorship. And no, please don’t ask anyone to “be your mentor”. Instead, you: - take tasks off their plate - that seem boring to them - but are full of learning for you. In return, they: - help you help them - by pairing on tricky bugs - and showing you how to use DataDog. Lean into your relationships. They are the lifeblood of your growth now. — P.S. I had no idea how to find the right mentor when I first started. So I put together this free 5-day email course teaching you how: https://lnkd.in/euHSbh4V

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Well said. The alarmism around AI replacing software engineers often overlooks the complexity of our role. While AI tools like Devin are impressive, they are assistants, not replacements. 𝟏. 𝐂𝐨𝐝𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐢𝐬 𝐣𝐮𝐬𝐭 𝐨𝐧𝐞 𝐚𝐬𝐩𝐞𝐜𝐭 𝐨𝐟 𝐬𝐨𝐟𝐭𝐰𝐚𝐫𝐞 𝐞𝐧𝐠𝐢𝐧𝐞𝐞𝐫𝐢𝐧𝐠. 𝟐. 𝐒𝐞𝐧𝐢𝐨𝐫 𝐫𝐨𝐥𝐞𝐬 𝐢𝐧𝐯𝐨𝐥𝐯𝐞 𝐚𝐫𝐜𝐡𝐢𝐭𝐞𝐜𝐭𝐮𝐫𝐞, 𝐝𝐞𝐜𝐢𝐬𝐢𝐨𝐧-𝐦𝐚𝐤𝐢𝐧𝐠, 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐜𝐫𝐨𝐬𝐬-𝐭𝐞𝐚𝐦 𝐜𝐨𝐥𝐥𝐚𝐛𝐨𝐫𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧. 𝟑. 𝐔𝐧𝐝𝐞𝐫𝐬𝐭𝐚𝐧𝐝𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐛𝐮𝐬𝐢𝐧𝐞𝐬𝐬 𝐜𝐨𝐧𝐭𝐞𝐱𝐭 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐝𝐞𝐟𝐞𝐧𝐝𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐭𝐞𝐜𝐡𝐧𝐢𝐜𝐚𝐥 𝐝𝐞𝐜𝐢𝐬𝐢𝐨𝐧𝐬 𝐚𝐫𝐞 𝐜𝐫𝐮𝐜𝐢𝐚𝐥 𝐡𝐮𝐦𝐚𝐧 𝐬𝐤𝐢𝐥𝐥𝐬. 𝟒. 𝐄𝐱𝐢𝐬𝐭𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐜𝐨𝐝𝐞𝐛𝐚𝐬𝐞𝐬 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐫𝐞𝐯𝐞𝐧𝐮𝐞 𝐬𝐭𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐦𝐬 𝐫𝐞𝐪𝐮𝐢𝐫𝐞 𝐜𝐚𝐫𝐞𝐟𝐮𝐥, 𝐡𝐮𝐦𝐚𝐧-𝐠𝐮𝐢𝐝𝐞𝐝 𝐞𝐯𝐨𝐥𝐮𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧. AI will definitely reshape our workflows, but it won't replace the need for skilled engineers. Instead, it may allow us to focus more on high-level problem-solving and innovation. Arvind Telharkar 👏

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